Sunday, 16 August 2009

Kaminey [2009]

Yes, Vishal Bharadwaj has done it again! After the dark nihilism of the two Shakespeare adaptations Maqbool and Omkara, he chose to go darkly comic with Kaminey, and the end result is nearly as gripping and tantalizing. Punching no-holes-barred violence with tar black humour, the movie would surely make the likes of Quentin Tarantino, the Coen brothers, Park Chan-Wook and Guy Ritchie quite proud if they were to watch it. The tale, set in a single day of mayhem and double-crosses, is about twin brothers Guddu and Charlie – the former is goody-two-shoes and stammers while the latter is an underworld bookie with lisp, who had hoped they would never get to cross each other’s paths. But they do, and in what spectacular fashion! Shahid Kapoor, as the twins, is quite brilliant at times, especially as the ‘evil’ counterpart, as is the entire cast of actors – Priyanka Chopra, Amol Gupte, Chandan Roy Sanyal et al – who join him in the mad, mad ride to hell and back. The music by the director himself sets the frenetic pace, while the cinematography ensures the audience too is in for a high-octane journey through Bombay’s notorious nether world of guns, drugs, gangsters and politicians (read: gangsters). Though its darkness-quotient might not be as high as, say Omkara, but its still high enough to ensure that right from its maniac, cynical voiceover to the mini-warzone at the climax makes for a captivating and wildly entertaining watch.

4 comments:

Its good but the end part is little messy. Ends like priyadarshan movies (all dudes f#$%s at one place). For mainstream people its good..and one more good review in your series. Still not more than 3.5 stars, slightly overrated film.

Thanks man. Yeah, I guess you're correct in stating that I've slightly overrated the movie. That extra half-star is sort of an appreciation to Vishal Bharadwaj for his intent and his courage to remain a non-conformist in Bollywood.